For He Was Once
by Dr. Fluffmuffin
Summary: Spoilers for Ninjago S11. The team confronts Zane in his fortress. (Slight AU of the finale).


**So season 11 had me thinking that the finale would involve some Kai vs Zane confrontation, seeing as that's what the story seemed to be building up to thematically (or so I thought...-_-). But that didn't happen, so I wrote a slight AU where it does happen. Spoilers, obviously.**

* * *

The realization of who Kai is trying to fight is a bombshell that sends his soul careening from his body like a doll.

The Ice Emperor stands at the center of his throne room, framed by dark pyramids of ice. He's everything Kai expected and not: cold-hearted; foreboding; scarily powerful.

And yet—

The posture is what catches Kai's eye. The way the emperor holds himself as he walks, as he tosses his teammates around the room with a wicked wave of his staff; it's a shock that cripples Kai with inaction, almost literally freezes his feet to the floor.

He knows the figure at the center of the room.

The castle was already in chaos by the time the ninja reached its gates. Krag had ripped open heavy oak doors to meet a grizzly roaring in the foyer, tossing imposing looking guards around like they were made of paper. Deep within the fortress walls, loud sounds echoed out, the sounds of a fight, and the ninja know Lloyd well enough that it had to be him.

The guards weren't going to let them pass, however.

The ninja fought tooth and nail just to get this far, left Krag and Cole to fend off the guards, and now Kai stands, unable to do anything.

He knows the figure at the center of the room.

"Zane! It's Zane!" Lloyd shouts, "We can't hurt him!"

They've figured this out by now, but the realization has them completely blindsided. Kai sees Nya across the room, sees the same disbelief mirrored back.

A girl howls nearby. It isn't a sound of terror, but one of anger. Kai doesn't know who she is, but she brandishes a nasty blade and rushes the emperor—Zane—with no intention of stopping. That's when Kai realizes the gravity of the situation, and all of a sudden, time is moving too fast. Someone is going to get killed.

"NO!" Lloyd leaps between them, dangerously close to the emperor's path of destruction, and holds the girl back with his entire body. She beats at him, all elbows and fists.

The emperor knocks Jay backwards with a wave of wind and snow that spreads the circumference of the room, sending everyone stumbling at least a little. He then turns his gaze around the room, eyeing each opponent, and Kai finally moves. He must stop this, somehow, and some way.

He sprints to Nya's side, who's flailing on the floor where the wave bowled her over. He helps her to her feet, sickened at the almost musical sound the icicles sing as they crack and fall away from her armor.

"The staff," Nya says, huffing and shivering, "It's the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu. We have to—"

A fist of ice blasts between them, shot from the emperor's own hand, and they fly sideways. The cold bites in a way it didn't before, and Kai can't tell if it's in his imagination. Nevertheless, he understands the objective, hopes Jay does too, for he tosses bolts of lightning from his fists with frightened zeal.

Get the staff. That's the only way to stop this before they do something they'll regret.

Well, before they do something else that they'll _really _regret.

Kai shakes his head once, twice, gathers himself the best he can in a situation like this. He's fought with Zane before; they've sparred hundreds, thousands of times before now. Surely, the ninja can disarm him. The team can do that. Kai can do that.

But the Ice Emperor is out to kill. His eyes are familiar, but the look inside is one that Kai does not know. These eyes show no mercy.

Kai makes a running start towards him and leaps. The Ice Emperor's movements have so far been calculated, hardly slow, but slow enough that Kai's speed might surprise him.

The blow Kai takes to the chest knocks the air clean out of him, and he hits the floor gasping.

He can't believe this. Standing over him is Zane, someone he can't fight.

Except it isn't Zane. It's something else, quite literally a different skin, clouding his friend's senses. That must be it, then. Zane isn't thinking straight.

The emperor's staff is raised, and Kai is so caught up in the look of Zane's eyes that it takes him a second to realize what he is about to do. He rolls away just in time as the blunt end of the staff impales the spot his head once was. Amidst a freezing wind that has Kai convinced his nose has fallen off, spikes of ice sprout in dangerous paths around the staff, branching out like a snowflake. Kai scrambles for some footing, eyes watering from the sting.

"Zane—" he tries as soon as he's enough time and air to speak.

That's all he gets out before the staff comes his way again. Kai falls back, slipping and stumbling on the icy floor. He balls his fists, half in anger, half in hopes that his powers will do more than flicker. He doesn't know why he's bothering with Zane's name, other than a fruitless hope that saying it enough will break through the walls of ice.

The thing about winter, however, is that it muffles sound. The Never Realm has ultimately been a very quiet place, and if Lloyd can't get through to Zane, if Lloyd and Nya and Jay, then Kai can't either.

He focuses on his anger so as not to let the despair engulf him entirely.

"Zane!" shouts Jay, shouts Nya.

They're rushing the emperor one at a time—a foolish action. Power like the performance before them is something they as a team of six struggled to overcome. They should know this.

But they're hardly thinking straight, and neither is Kai, for that matter. For now, it's easier just to focus on the objective. Disarm the emperor. Get back their friend.

Kai inhales, braces himself.

He doesn't throw caution to the wind so much as he tosses it wailing out the window as he runs at the emperor again, this time with his hands alive with tiny balls of flame. Compared to the staff, both in power and composure, it's a downright pathetic display, and while it frustrates him, Kai can hardly blame the emperor when he grunts in annoyance.

The noise itself almost does more to infuriate Kai than the knowledge that his friend has been the one actively harming this world, his family. It's a sound of thought as well as feeling, and it says that the ninja are not a worthy challenge for the emperor, that they're hardly worth getting up from his throne.

That makes Kai angry. Well, angrier. He tries to funnel the feeling into his fist, which he brings forward in a roundhouse punch.

The fire flickers out like a candle, and the emperor stops his fist with a grip of iron. With a cold stare and eyebrows raised in almost blasé expression, he twists Kai's hand hard enough that spots sprout in his vision. Before he can think, the emperor hits him with his staff, sending him sailing into the wall upon a wind with fangs.

He hits the floor with a grunt that springs from his gut rather than his throat. His eyes roll back in his head, and his vision fades fast. Lloyd calls his name, but there's no getting out of this, not until it passes, at least. Kai just hopes that happens soon.

Just before he blacks out, he feels the ice around him rumble. Nya holds her arms up to the ceiling, but before he can figure out what's going on, his eyes slide shut.

One might say that Kai is out cold, a pun he might appreciate in any other circumstance, but by the time he wakes up, things have taken a turn for the worst. The first thing Kai notices when he opens his eyes is the state the throne room is in. Large chunks of ice have shattered; the icicles hanging from the ceiling now scatter the floor. It is not the emperor's hand.

It hurts just to turn his head to the side, but Kai looks and sees Jay, frozen haphazardly to the ground and twitching as he reaches with shaking arms. That is the emperor's doing, and Jay's face is lined with pain, partly due to the cold, but mostly due to who he's reaching for.

Kai looks, and the fatigue of unconsciousness fades in an instant as his blood drains.

Nya is sprawled on the floor not far from Jay, half crushed beneath two chunks of ice. Kai can only hope that she's unconscious, for blood runs dark down her forehead in three crooked lines, tangling in her hair. The sight of it puts all Kai's thoughts on hold as his heart climbs into the back of his throat.

That's when he sees the emperor, standing next Vex on the staircase, the last ones erect in the wrecked throne room. They lean over a ball of ice frozen against the stairs.

No, not ice, his brother. It's Lloyd.

The emperor towers over him, curled and hooked like a hawk. Zane always did have an impressive height; one Kai was jealous of. In fact, Kai used to wonder if Zane rebuilt himself taller than he was at Dr. Julien's hands, because that kind of height is unfair.

Unfair, and now, terrifying. The emperor curls the staff forward with a long, steady arm, holding it under Lloyd's chin, to end this—Kai assumes.

He hears a, "Please," one last attempt to get through to Zane. It falls on silent ears.

Vex is sneering, a vulture waiting to finish off the pickings the emperor leaves behind. Glass eyed guards stand behind him, binding the room in another sign of defeat, a message that Cole's efforts have failed. There's no hope left but to watch, helpless as the emperor ends the last upstart threatening his deadly reign.

Except.

No one sees Kai, and Kai is looking, eyes burning.

At first, he thinks it's tears, but he's never been one to cry in anger. The searing pain that lines the rims of his eyelids comes from something else, something deep that starts with the boiling in his blood and fuels his actions now as he struggles to his feet, dizzy with the heartbeat that throbs in his ears.

If there exists a word that encapsulates Kai, it is '_intense_'. Everything Kai feels, he feels in excess, and it burns like a wildfire, from his heart, his blood, his eyes, his _hands._

A pillar of fire transgresses the length of the room. It takes Kai a second to realize where it's coming from, but his hands remind him. The burn of cold and the burn of heat are different enough that the contrast of sensation, as well as the brightness of the blaze, has Kai almost blinded.

He's half unaware of what's even happening, just that the guards are suddenly ducking back from the heat, arms thrown up to shield their faces. Lloyd and Jay, it seems, have no choice but to turn their heads, and Kai realizes he's too close.

The blast disappears in an instant as Kai throws his arms, his palms, far apart and away from each other. He quivers with adrenaline, shocked at the outburst. He stares at the floor, huffing, and sees puddles upon the stone.

Lloyd stares at him from the steps, face flushed pink. The ice is gone; Kai's fire was that hot. Lloyd, however, doesn't move as he watches Kai in shock. That concerns Kai, in a small way, for there is need for Lloyd to be scared.

Kai wasn't aiming for him.

Vex stands further up the steps, where he retreated from the heat, and the emperor has backed away, staff raised as he'd no time to do more than shield himself from Kai's attack. The melting ice shows that it didn't do much.

The emperor, however, isn't deterred. Eyes glaring in cold fury, he is the only one who isn't dumbfounded by Kai's sudden burst of power. He raises the scroll again, ready to fight and keep fighting for as long as it takes to rid himself of this team of nuisances.

But Kai raises his hands as well, truly furious now. He knows it's unwise to attack the emperor like this, without a team, without a plan, but no one is allowed to harm Kai's family and get away with it. He isn't going to let this continue.

"No!" Kai says, tossing aside the gust of ice with a ball of flame, as hot as the emperor is cold, "No more!"

He fires again, and the emperor blocks it with a wall. The result is a stalemate, a brief one at that. Kai keeps firing, the flames roaring. They wail almost like voices as they land closer and closer to the emperor, who struggles to keep up. Kai steps forward as the emperor backs further and further away, refusing to let him gather his footing.

At some point, the emperor nears the wall. He holds the scroll in front of him, losing all offense in favor of self-preservation. The hand that clutches it is blue; the ice is melting.

Kai doesn't let up.

The guards do not interfere. Everyone watches, faces stretched back in what must be horror. Kai can't imagine what else it'd be. His eyes burn, and deep in his gut, he's sickened at his actions, unless this is just what happens when he overspends his powers.

Lloyd is calling again, but Kai can't hear past the crackle of fire, the blood in his ears.

His hands burn. That's never happened before, and Kai can't help but think that it's a cry for him to stop, to make sure he doesn't harm one of the people he loves most in the world. He can't hear it, for the fire is louder.

The Never Realm is a frightfully quiet place, and Kai's fire is what gives it the voice to tell of the suffering it's endured for decades. The voices scream, and Kai doesn't stop.

Then the emperor reaches the wall. A blue hand slams against it as he loses his footing and slides to the floor. He slipped not on ice, but on stone floors, puddled with water.

The walls here are red, the windows, clear.

Kai is seeing the same color, but he blinks again and sees the figure now crumpled on the ground. It isn't the emperor; it's Zane.

Defiant eyes peer up from under the helmet, and time seems to slow as Kai stares back. He knows them. Without the ice, Zane's face appears almost softer, though it's lined with pain and perhaps fear. Without his ice, he has only the scroll, which he holds tight across his front.

Kai should end it right here. The flames lick his arms as far up as his elbows, waiting. This is usually the point where they deliver the final blow, where it's all over, and they go home.

But Zane looks so much like himself now that the thought of raising another hand against him makes Kai's stomach churn. Instead, he's caught in a dangerous situation. He's hesitating.

"Zane," he speaks, voice low and hoping for a million times the charm, "Drop the staff. This isn't you."

Except, it is. Zane's eyebrows rise a fraction. It looks like Zane. Too much, it hurts.

"Zane," Kai says.

Behind him, Vex starts down the stairs, but the wolf girl Kai saw earlier stops him with a knife to the throat. The rest of the guards don't move. Like puppets, they stand back, watching, waiting for a command.

For whatever reason, Zane doesn't give it. He stares up at Kai, holding the staff, but not using it.

"Zane," Kai repeats, voice raw from use and cold. Maybe he's exhausted. Maybe he can stop this now. "You're better than this."

A frown, low and slow, furrows Zane's forehead.

"You're Zane," says Kai, "You were built to protect those who can't protect themselves. Do you remember?"

He's talking too much, waiting too long. Zane's fingers twitch around the staff, the scroll. If Kai doesn't act, Zane will.

Panic spikes in Kai's veins as the seconds tick by. He can't harm Zane, not like this.

"Zane—"

The room senses his hesitance. The guards start to shuffle, Vex leans away from the wolf girl's arm, Lloyd stands. Jay stays on the ground, crouched by Nya. He's watching the scene before him with wide eyes, unsure of what Kai—what Zane—is about to do.

Frankly, Kai hasn't any idea what he's going to do. He must stop this, but the only step he can see forward from here is hurting Zane. He can't do that while Zane is looking up at him from the ground.

Zane's eyes start to dart instead of stare. His grip tightens around the staff, then, as Kai's fingers twitch in anticipation, it loosens again. Something struck a chord.

Zane says, "Pro—tect?"

Kai's heart doesn't stop, but stalls, holding itself in Kai's chest, and that's when Zane jerks.

The flames crackle and sputter as Kai raises his hands, but Zane isn't attacking him. Rather, his body seizes and heaves, shoulders rolling like his brain has lost control of his limbs. The sight of it sends Kai stepping backwards in alarm, unsure of what's happened.

He runs into a cool hand against his elbow, and Kai turns to see Lloyd.

"Kai," is all he says, the sound somehow filled with a million other words.

"Something is wrong," Kai replies, the terror that's been building since he awoke without his powers finally leaking from his voice.

The fire is gone, and Kai is left shaking as he watches Zane jerk. It appears to be a seizure, and Kai doesn't know what to do but watch until Zane culls his shaking to a quivering stop. When he stills, the silence rings.

He's bent forward as he sits, curled around himself like a fern that's yet to uncoil. Ice has scattered with his movements, but it lacks the control of the emperor; this is sporadic, wild and dangerous.

In preparation, Kai balls his fists to light them again, but he can't get so much as a spark. Whatever fueled his powers before is gone, disappeared from this horrible situation. For now, he just nudges Lloyd behind him, but either Lloyd got stronger or Kai's strength is deteriorating, because his brother doesn't budge.

Then Zane drops the staff himself.

The sound it makes as it clatters against the stone tiles is one Kai feels in his marrow, vibrating with an ancient echo. Following this sound is a voice.

"Kai?" it says.

It's so soft that Kai isn't sure if it came from his own head or from Zane, who's still bent forward, head in his hands. He holds his breath, hoping to hear it again, and Zane finally looks up.

Kai recognizes those eyes.

"Zane!" says Lloyd. He falters just once before rushing to his friend's side.

Behind him, Jay has his hand on Nya's back, Thankfully, she's sitting up, not quite awake, but rubbing at her face as she gathers herself. The guards themselves do the same, chattering and scratching their heads like they've woken up from a thousand-year nap.

Zane still looks at Kai, torrents of emotion reeling in his gaze.

That's all he's able to handle. Exhaustion pools as Kai drops to his knees in relief and sorrow.


End file.
